Pressure intensifies to drop quarantines in favour of EU-wide passenger testing protocol
With less than 90 days to go before the year-end holiday season, European aviation bodies have intensified their call to replace quarantine measures with passenger testing. This will provide far greater assurance and ability for cross-border travellers to plan family reunions or vacations during this important holiday period. It will also serve as a lifeline […]
Traffic Forecast Downgrade After Dismal Summer
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) downgraded its traffic forecast for 2020 to reflect a weaker-than-expected recovery, as evidenced by a dismal end to the summer travel season in the Northern Hemisphere. IATA now expects full-year 2020 traffic to be down 66% compared to 2019. The previous estimate was for a 63% decline. August passenger […]
Hawaiian Airlines to Offer Drive-Through, Pre-Flight COVID-19 Screening
As Hawaii reopens to tourism, it is requiring that visitors have negative Covid-19 tests and airlines are stepping up to help passengers obtain them. Hawaiian Airlines will offer its passengers drive-through Covid-19 testing in select mainland U.S. gateways. «As Hawai’i’s leading airline, it is critical to ensure that access to testing does not impede travel […]
IATA Calls for Systematic COVID-19 Testing Before Departure
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called for the development and deployment of rapid, accurate, affordable, easy-to-operate, scalable and systematic COVID-19 testing for all passengers before departure as an alternative to quarantine measures in order to re-establish global air connectivity. IATA will work through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and with health authorities to […]
Air Canada starts COVID-19 testing at Toronto airport in push to lift travel restrictions
Air Canada said on Thursday it has launched a voluntary COVID-19 study of international travellers coming into Toronto’s Pearson Airport as part of a campaign to persuade the government to lift travel restrictions such as its 14-day quarantine. Under the study, set to begin on Thursday, participating passengers will provide samples to be analyzed for […]
US Airlines Pushing for COVID-19 Testing Pilot Program
Airlines for America (A4A), which represents major U.S. carriers including American, Delta, United and Southwest, is one of several industry groups calling on the federal government to pilot a COVID-19 testing program for passengers in hopes of restoring international travel. According to Reuters, the chief executives of A4A, Airlines UK, Heathrow Airport and Virgin Atlantic […]
Sluggish Improvement in Passenger Demand Continues in July
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that passenger demand in July (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs), continued at critically low levels–79.8% below July 2019 levels. This was somewhat better than the 86.6% year-over-year decline recorded in June, primarily driven by domestic markets, most notably Russia and China. Market reopening in the Schengen […]
Travelers Face Risk of Penalties for Refusing to Wear Face Covering
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is appealing to all travelers to wear face covering during the travel journey for the safety of all passengers and crew during COVID-19. Wearing face coverings is a key recommendation of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) guidance for safe operations during the pandemic, as developed jointly with the […]
New Check & Fly app provides airport health measures to passengers
Airports Council International (ACI) World has today launched a new smart phone app which provides passengers with information about the health measures in place at individual airports around the world. As travel restrictions are gradually lifted, many new health-related measures have been implemented at airports in response to COVID-19. The Check & Fly app provides […]
European COVID-19 Impacts Continue to Worsen as Border Restrictions Remain
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released an update to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on air passenger numbers, employment and economies across Europe, and urged governments to coordinate to lift border restrictions and find alternatives to quarantine measures to avoid further economic damage. Although the European market has seen an increase in the […]
